Jesuit Father Joseph Fitzmyer, a leading Catholic biblical scholar, died Dec. 24 at Manresa Hall, a Jesuit infirmary in Philadelphia, Pa. He was 96.

He is well known for his contributions to the Anchor Bible Series and for co-editing “The Jerome Biblical Commentary.”

He earned a doctorate in semitics from Johns Hopkins University in 1956 and a licentiate in sacred Scripture a year later from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He was a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and also served as president of the U.S. Catholic Biblical Association.